Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 11, 2024 Italy's Jasmine Paolini celebrates winning her semi final match against Croatia's Donna Vekic REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
LONDON (Reuters) -Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon final after defeating Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6 6-4 7-6(8) on Thursday in the longest women's semi-final at the All England Club.
Fans were treated to a roller-coaster encounter on Centre Court as both players exhausted themselves seeking a spot in the final on Saturday. Paolini will face Barbora Krejcikova after the 2021 French Open champion beat Elena Rybakina in the second semi-final.
The two 28-year-olds were in unchartered territory, with Vekic playing the first major semi-final of her career while Paolini had never even won a match on grass before this year.
The Croatian took the opening set comfortably having broken Paolini, a surprise finalist at the French Open last month, in the fifth game and then again in the seventh with her mixture of groundstrokes and dropshots proving too much for the Italian under a sunny sky.
However, Paolini, cheered on by a loud contingent of Italians in the crowd, became more aggressive in the second as she approached the net more and put Vekic on the backfoot. Her diligence and energy eventually paid off with a break to clinch the set.
The pair exchanged numerous breaks in the decider as both racked up the unforced errors, particularly Vekic who looked fatigued and emotional as the match wore on. She was in tears after saving Paolini's first match point.
A successful challenge overturning a line call helped Paolini hold an almost 10-minute game that ended in Vekic sobbing in her chair at the changeover.
The Croatian rallied to save another match point and held serve to force a tiebreak but looked particularly laboured as she made 57 unforced errors in total and voiced her frustration to coach Pam Shriver in the players' box.
Paolini, in contrast, looked just as energised as she did at the start. She prevailed and won the two hour, 51 minute epic, during which both players ran more than 3.5 kilometres, to reach her second successive Grand Slam final.
"These last months have been crazy for me. I am trying to focus on what I have to do on court and I love playing tennis. It is amazing to be here and it is a dream," Paolini, who reached the semi-finals in Eastbourne last month, said on court.
"I think it was an intense match and I tried to play my best and now it's time to recover. I think I need an ice bath as my legs are a little bit tired."
The previous longest women's semi-final at Wimbledon was two hours and 50 minutes between Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva in 2009.
'CRAZY'
Paolini had never even gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam before this year. She reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January before her runs to the final at the French Open and now Wimbledon.
Asked if she would have believed someone telling her last year that by this point she would be a two-time finalist, the Italian had a simple response.
"You are crazy, I would say, yes... I don't have words. Just, yeah, you are crazy," she told a press conference while laughing.
However, it seems that her work with a new fitness coach since last year is paying off as she emulates fellow Italians such as 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone, 2015 U.S. Open champion Flavia Pennetta and former world number five Sara Errani by contesting the title match at a major.
Paolini, though, was intent on crafting her own chapter in the history books.
"Yeah, they are inspiring me so much. But I don't want to compare too much because I'm writing my own story, my own career," she said.
"But I remember the Grand Slam finals that they made. I think it's really important for also the next generation having people that can do great things. They can show you that it's possible. That's really important."
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
